Ghim Moh folks' favourite, a nice re-interpretation of the old staple minced pork noodle by a young hawker. The signboard in Chinese says ้ฑผ่้ข Fish Chor Mee or minced fish noodle.
Stalking Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre on a Monday morning, I was a little disappointed that many stalls were closed for the day. However, there was a long line of over 10 deep at TOM's City Zoom Mee Pok Tar noodle stall.
Actually, I know TOM's City Zoom Mee Pok Tar - the stall has been here since 2014 helmed by a young hawker, Tom. Tom's brother, Anson used to run a successful prawn mee stall but returned to the healthcare profession in 2020 after the onset of COVID 19 pandemic. Anson's Prawn Village stall used to be at Golden Mile F C and later joined his brother at Ghim Moh F C. I really miss Prawn Village ๐ฅ but Anson is needed at the COVID frontlines.
TOM's $3.50 signature mee pok tar set consists of a bowl of noodles topped with fried wanton, fried fish cake, a few lettuce leafs, chopped spring onion but no minced fish. There was a bowl of fishball soup. It's a generous serving for $3.50.
The mee pok noodles were done tender with a slight spring to the bite. Each strand was enveloped by a well balanced savoury tangy spicy sauce and some lardy grease.
The mee pok noodles are sourced from Lau Boon Heng in Chai Chee, a trusted noodle maker who also supplies the signature noodles for the dozen of authentic soupy type bak chor mee stalls in Singapore's east.
A little bit of magic - bak pok or lard croutons.
I like TOM's fried fish cake which come cut in thick slices. The inside was light soft-tender moist with bits of leek embedded. In the mouth, the soft-tender inside was complemented by a slightly squeaky, subtly crunchy bite of the browned outside. Flavour was savoury with a bit of underlying fish sweetness and taste of leek.
Tom's brother used the same fried fish cake at his now defunct Prawn Village stall. The fish cakes are made by their uncle.
The crispy wantons were filled with fish paste (instead of minced pork). I believe only TOM's serve this unique twist to the traditional wanton at a hawker stall.
The fish wantons are popular and often run out long before the stall closes for the day.
Three handmade fishballs in the bowl of slightly cloudy savoury sweet soup.
Lovely handmade fishball with a nice soft bouncy crunch to the bite and subtle fish flavour.
Oh... there was a her kiao or fish dumpling hidden under the cloudy soup. It's nice but I like a little bit more starch binder in the fish skin to give it a gummy chewy bite (like at Chao Yang and Song Kee). The filling was made with fish paste instead of minced pork.
The queue at TOM's City Zoom Mee Pok Tar was still long as I was leaving after my meal.
TOM's fish chor mee has plenty of fish like fish ball, fish cake, fish wanton and fish dumpling - just no minced fish on the noodles. There's lard though. Overall, it's a tasty, healthier(?) mee pok tar - one of the top choices at Ghim Moh food centre.
More top choices at Ghim Moh Food Centre ๐ click
Written by Tony Boey on 26 Apr 2021
My favourite!
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